Disability-free life expectancy: a cross-national comparison among Bulgarian, Italian, and Latin American older population.

Objective: To present sociodemographic and health status harmonized variables constructed to evaluate cross-national differences in term of Disability Free Life Expectancy (DFLE) across different surveys.

Method: The study comprises national surveys conducted in Bulgaria, Italy, and Latin America and the Caribbean. A homogeneous group of health determinants for the older population was created and the DFLE indicator based on Sullivan's method was developed considering the harmonized common variables on disability.

Health expectancy calculations: a novel approach to studying population health in Bulgaria.

The measurement of life expectancy in terms of either good or poor health is a novel approach to studying the health of the population in Bulgaria. The pilot study reported here-carried out among people aged > or = 60 years in a middle-sized Bulgarian town-was designed to obtain information on the years of functional restrictions expected among the elderly. In accordance with the answers to a series of questions (recommended by WHO), subjects were categorized as disabled, handicapped, or having different states of perceived health.

Occupational handicap-free life expectancy in Bulgaria 1976-1992 based on the data of the medical expert commissions.

This article presents health expectancy calculations from Bulgaria for 1976-1992. The calculations are based on mortality statistics and data from a national information system from the Expert Medical Commissions on Working Capacity about loss of working capacity. Following internationally accepted terminology, the most appropriate term for the health expectancies presented here is "occupational handicap-free life expectancy' (OHFLE).